The Reader’s Forum

To the Editor, Jewish Daily Bulletin:

I am very glad to see that the Jewish Daily Bulletin is cooperating to the fullest extent with the State and City officials who are attempting to enforce the Kosher Law and bring a semblance of order out of the chaos that exists in the Kosher meat business.

Shepherd Z. Baum,

Supervisor, Department of

Agriculture and Markets.

Albany, N. Y.

To the Editor, Jewish Daily Bulletin:

By the appeal of Chief Rabbi Kook and the leading rabbinical authorities of Palestine, worldwide attention has been called to the case of Abraham Stavsky who last Friday, was sentenced to death by a majority of the Jerusalem court which at the same time freed his presumed co-partner in the crime, Zvi Rosenblatt.

The police court proceedings and the trial which had dragged out for nearly eleven months, presented extraordinary features suggesting a vindictive interest in the conviction of the accused rather than an attempt to discover the truth and mete out justice. The trial itself was unique. The presumed arch-conspirator, Achimeier, was freed during the proceedings by the court and held guiltless of any complicity in the crime but was immediately rearrested on a charge of heading a revolutionary organization which is the background of the case against Stavsky. There has from the moment of the murder of Arlosoroff been no allegation that Stavsky knew Arlosoroff personally or had any contact with him or had any personal interest in his fate.

After the dismissal of charges against Achimeier, the case was continued against Stavsky and Rosenblatt. They were identified by the same person. All the details, all the circumstantial evidence applied as much to the one as to the other. The court by a majority vote, discharged Rosenblatt but declared Stavsky guilty as an accessory to the crime according to the court’s finding. The murderer is unknown but Stavsky held the pocket flashlight which enabled the victim to be identified when the shot was fired. The fact that the identification of Rosenblatt was held insufficient is in the judgment of this defense committee, sufficient to warrant any possible effort being made to continue the defense of Stavsky.

We are new aiding to the best of our ability in providing the means for carrying the defense through all legal processes. We have in this matter cooperated with the venerated chief rabbi of the Ashkinazi Jews of Palestine, Rabbi Kook. His office lends neither to idle agitation nor to the use of loose words. When he cabled to us that Stavsky is both innocent and pure, we felt that he had registered an opinion as to the merits of the case and that it is our duty and our privilege to cooperate and to invite the public by its contributions, large or small, to cooperate in the defense of Stavsky. Rabbi Kook has now been joined by Rabbi Meir, the spiritual head of the Sephardim of Palestine, and other members of the Palestine rabbinate, a body that is respected throughout Jewry. Its protest against the decision of the court and its appeal for aid is couched in no uncertain language.

We will in a few days apprise your readers of what steps the Stavsky Defense Committee will take if public action is necessary. We are happy to state that we have received most gracious cooperation, that there has been volunteered expert American opinion for the defense.

Contributions to the Stavsky Defense Fund will be welcome, however small the sum, and should be sent to the following address: Stavsky Defense Fund, care of Mr. Jacob DeHaas, 50 Morningside drive, New York City.

(Signed)

Jacob De Hass, Chairman;

Prof. Chaim Tchep. Nowitz,

Rabbi Louis Newman.

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